"Learning about Discipleship & enjoying the fellowship, during ALPHA class @ Gracewood UMC - 1999"
All over the world, the Christian church is experiencing remarkable growth. New shoots of
life are springing up giving fresh dynamism, hope and vision.
Alpha is one of these shoots.
More than 10,000 Alpha courses are now running across 77 countries. Hundreds more register each month as church
leaders from all denominations report the astonishing impact the course has on non-churchgoers and existing Christians
in their areas. And it's spreading fast to many secular locations - prisons, businesses and schools.
Developed at Holy Trinity Brompton
over the last twenty years, Alpha is a 15-session practical introduction to the Christian faith. It's aimed especially
at people who don't go to church. At Holy Trinity, Alpha courses are held throughout the year and have over 600
people attending each week.
The syllabus for the course is contained in the book Questions of Life. Some courses are held
during the day. Most are evening courses. At the evening events, there is a light meal followed by a talk on a
subject central to the Christian faith. Then participants break into pre-arranged groups of around 10-12 people
(in which they remain for the entire course) to discuss the talk in anenvironment where each person should feel
free to ask or express whatever they wish. A team of around three or four 'leaders' or 'helpers' from the host
church are attached to each group. There is also a weekend away during which the subject of the Holy Spirit is
addressed.
A NEW ALPHA COURSE WILL BE BEGINNING SOON!
Please call 706-798-2200 for details & time.
Or leave me Email gstreeter@mindspring.com
"It's friends
bringing friends"
The Alpha course has been running for 20 years, but it was only in 1993 that its
astonishing possibilities as a vehicle forevangelism began to emerge. This is thestory of how it happened:
TWENTY YEARS ago, Charles Marnham, a clergyman at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, began looking for a means of presenting
the basic principles of the Christian faith to new Christians in a relaxed and informal setting. He devised the
Alpha Course. The talks addressed such questions as 'Who is Jesus?', 'How and why do I pray?' and 'How does God
guide us?'. When Charles Marnham moved on, others took over leadership of the course and made their own changes.
By the time Nicky Gumbel took over Alpha in 1990, the course was a central feature of the church's life, with the
number of participants regularly totalling around 100 people on each course.
It was while leading his second Alpha course that Nicky made a discovery which transformed the church's whole approach
to the course and gave it a new dynamic. As he looked around the 13 members of his 'small group', he realized to
his surprise that apart from the three Christian helpers, all the other 10 members of the group were non-churchgoers.
"They had all the normal objections: 'What about other religions?'; 'What about suffering?', and so on - and
we had a stormy first six weeks," he said. Then they went away on the weekend and all 10 announced their Christian
conversion together.
The experience transformed Nicky's thinking about Alpha. He realized how this simple course in basic Christianity
could become a powerful medium for evangelism. He quickly worked to give the course the kind of ‘feel’ that would
be particularly attractive to non-churchgoers.
The method of welcome, the atmosphere of the small groups, the food, the seating, the flowers, the sound, and the
material of the talks themselves were all changed to make them as attractive as possible to the person who walked
in 'off the street'. He emphasised to the Alpha small group leaders that no question should be treated as too trivial,
threatening or illogical. Every question would be addressed courteously and thoughtfully - and none would ever
be 'pestered' if they chose not to continue with the course.
Nicky Gumbel explains: "It's all friendship-based. There's no knocking on doors - it's friends bringing friends."